Panic Attacks

These indescribable rushes of sheer terror are unlike the fears, phobias and aversions that accompany everyday life. For most people who are having a panic attack it feels like they are going to die or become nothing. It is like being drawn to the edge of a cold and dark abyss. Added to this can be any number of unfamiliar (at first) and disturbing physical symptoms such as shaking, sweating, weakness, heart palpitations, breathlessness, crying, nausea, dizziness, tingling in the spine, and so on.

The panic attack can last anywhere from a few seconds to endless minutes, and often leaves in its wake severe mental and emotional disturbances such as yet another phobia, confusion, self-doubt, depression, helplessness, timidity, depersonalisation, and intrusive thinking.

The standard advice for dealing with a panic attack is as follows:
 Remember that every wave of unnamed terror always passes. It peaks and then moves on, leaving you to pick up the pieces.
 Remind yourself that people do not die having a panic attack.
 Breathe in and out of a paper bag to reduce the oxygen in the blood, thereby alleviating dizziness, tingling and other hyperventilation indicators.
 Slow down, focus the mind on something concrete and static
 Remind yourself, “This is happening to my body, not to me.”
 Begin chanting your pre-selected prayer, mantra or affirmation.
 Avoid coffee, watching the TV news, anything stimulating.
 Meditate as soon as you can